Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services.

Witness Mob Wars. Developer Analytics says that the game, which has more than 52,000 fans, pulls in $22,000 a day in revenue. That's more than $8 million annualized.

I've been invited to play Mob Wars several times but, honestly, I'm afraid of the game's addictive power. So is screenwriter J.C. Tregarthen, who told me in a Facebook chat earlier today that he's trying to cut back on his play due to time constraints. He's not alone: A search of "Mob Wars" and "addictive" yields 157,000 hits.

As an investor, I find this interesting because it proves that network effects can be as powerful in social circles as they are in e-commerce. Think about that. We've assumed that network-driven e-commerce businesses such as eBay(NASDAQ:EBAY), Blue Nile(NASDAQ:NILE), and Amazon(NASDAQ:AMZN) were a breed apart from their social brethren.

If they're not -- if social networks create exponential value as they grow, just as e-commerce networks do -- then it's possible that the Facebook ecosystem will produce the sort of outsized returns Microsoft(NASDAQ:MSFT) is hoping for. And, if that's true, it won't be long before Google(NASDAQ:GOOG) makes an even bigger bet on the social sphere.

Mob Wars and popular peers FunSpace and SuperWall won't transform Facebook into Google. Or, if they do, it won't be soon. What they've proven instead is that all digital networks, when they're engaged, can unleash an abundance of real-world riches.

Over time, Facebook's value will correlate to the number of engaging digital networks it attracts versus those that migrate to News Corp.'s (NYSE:NWS) MySpace or elsewhere. That's a massive opportunity, Mr. Zuckerberg. Will you seize it?

Fool.com contributor Tim Beyers had positions in Google shares and 2010 LEAPs at the time of publication. He hunts for the best of tech as a contributor toMotley Fool Rule Breakers, which counts Blue Nile and Google among its core holdings. Please try the service risk-free for 30 days.

Author

Tim Beyers first began writing for the Fool in 2003. Today, he's an analyst for Motley Fool Rule Breakers and Motley Fool Supernova. At Fool.com, he covers disruptive ideas in technology and entertainment. Find him online at timbeyers.me or send email to tbeyers@foolcontractors.com. For more insights, follow Tim on Twitter.